Cheltenham and Aintree winners converge on Punchestown for jump season grand finale.
A total of 17 winners from the Cheltenham and Aintree festivals have been entered for Punchestown where five brilliant days of racing will take place from Tuesday 29th April to Saturday 3rd May.
A complete list of early-closing Grade 1 entries for the 2014 Punchestown Festival are announced today and some mouth-watering clashes look in prospect at Ireland’s National Hunt Festival. Among the highlights are current Cheltenham Champion Hurdle winner Jezki taking on Hurricane Fly who bids for a fifth consecutive victory in the newly sponsored Racing Post Champion Hurdle. The Willie Mullins trained On His Own will hope to go one better in the Bibby Financial Services Ireland Gold Cup having been beaten a short head second in a dramatic finish at Cheltenham but the Nicky Henderson trained duo of Long Run and Bobs Worth could scupper that plan. Quevega, dubbed the Queen of Punchestown, could face her strongest challenge to date in the Ladbrokes World Series Hurdle with Philip Hobbs Cheltenham winner Fingal Bay entered.
Dick O’Sullivan, General Manager at Punchestown Racecourse, commented: “We have increased prize money by €300,000 to €2.5 million at the 2014 Punchestown Festival and that has been reflected in some outstanding entries this year, including many horses who have already won at the highest level and others with the potential to do so. There will be some massively exciting rematches at Punchestown in a couple of weeks”.
“We are lucky to have some exceptional jumpers trained in Ireland at present and we are delighted to see a strong entry from Britain set to travel over to take them on.”
Please CLICK HERE for a full race running order and entries.
The Punchestown Festival takes place Tuesday 29th April to Saturday 3rd May 2014. Visit www.punchestown.com for full event information.
Please CLICK HERE for full press release.